He first defines the liberal arts as, "the seeking of knowledge about important matters through reason and reflection" (20-21). It's the type of studies that make humans particularly human and free us to think for ourselves. The study of the liberal arts should most naturally lead to the study of the truth.
But today's society has declared that kind of an education superfluous. It might be nice to delve into the complexities of life, but how is one to make any money doing that? Therefore, it is incumbent upon the defenders of liberal education to argue for the value the liberal arts give to both the individual and society in general.
And yet, the humanities have been thoroughly muddled up with ideas like, "think like a historian," in trying to prove itself a career-promoting option. Rather than give students an opportunity to simply sit at the feet of the masters, the liberal arts has attempted to make itself what it routinely decries: practical.
If, however, we were to advocate for a full-throated version of the liberal arts, what would it include? Our multicultural landscape demands it not just be "dead, white males." So how to choose? Agresto suggests the following: "Thus, we could finally ask what was it that caused the notion of human liberation to flower—what ideas, writings, religious principles, or events brought about these current views of human equality, individuality, and freedom that so many contemporary believers in liberty, liberation, and equality cavalierly take as true. This would be the wonderful fruit of a real liberal education—one that seeks insight in books, reason, and arguments rather than weakly standing on slogans." Choose the best on offer.
One big problem facing this kind of education is the fact that where it is still being attempted, it is being done badly. "Liberal education is no longer the attempt to understand the complexity of the universe and our own place in the cosmos, or even to understand our own civilization or truly learn about other cultures. It is no longer the introduction to the excitement of good novels and the ability to be moved or even transformed by the beauty of fine poetry. It is, instead, a type of badgering of incoming students, feeding them not questions but prescribed answers." It has become another of its antithesis: indoctrination.
In order to move forward on this admittedly hard journey to restore the place of the liberal arts, Agresto first asks the reader to be clear-eyed about what exactly the liberal arts hope to accomplish. "I have never been convinced that liberal education necessarily makes one more charming or even more moral. However, I think it does hold the potential to make us smarter than we were before and more knowledgeable about things that matter. The aim of liberal education has never been softness of spirit but rather toughness of mind." In a sense, the study of ancient authors provides a way to make them immortal, almost magically immortal, by allowing us access to the minds of the dead. Any resultant virtue obtained is on us.
So what mindset should we bring to these precious texts? Agresto warns, "All too often to read critically means to approach a text looking for biases or errors, or at how little the author knew compared to us. But think how much better it would be to approach a text as if we are the ones with prejudices and half-formed opinions. To see that the bias might be with us, the readers and professors. To grow in learning means that we all have to be open to that"(144). We are not to criticize the text so much as allow it to criticize us. We approach with wonder, knowing we are in the presence of a towering intellect. After "trying to comprehend...everything relevant we can know about a writer, ideas, or events" can we properly begin to criticize as we move together towards truth (145).
The self-governing republic bequeathed to us by our Founders requires citizens who can think, if we are to remain free.
the liberal arts, properly conceived and taught, can introduce our students to the best thinkers, authors, and artists from antiquity to the present, how it could give students exposure to what would be, for them, new ideas and perspectives, and how it can offer them the chance to think through these matters for themselves and come to their own conclusions through reason and reflection.This might cultivate the ability in them to possess their own minds...This is among the most weighty arguments for liberal education: The freedom to think, to imagine, to question, and to dissent is part of what it means to be a free man or woman. (150)
Inherent in a citizen of a self-governing nation should be both courage and humility. Reading the greats, properly done, can inculcate both. Best of all, it may lead to that most maligned of virtues: moderation.
Agresto concludes his small book on a big topic like this:
My guess is that, for the liberal arts to live and again prosper, we will have to show that there can actually be an American liberal education--one that helps civilize all of us by preserving the finest in our culture's literature, art, music, and philosophy and that offers them all students; one that encourages all students to understand the basic principles of science and its marvels so that they can be intelligent citizens in our highly scientific and technological world; one that does not see itself as educationally separate from our colleagues in business, law, agriculture, engineering, and other technical and productive studies but that offers what it truly knows and which, in turn, looks to be open to education from them; one that helps this country understand itself and the principles that undergird it; one that has regard for the qualities of our fellow citizens and has the desire to improve their lot and not merely criticize it; and perhaps above all one that makes us smarter in areas that really matter. That is, an American liberal education that satisfies the Founders' hopes that this nation's citizens would be so knowledgeable about history, so cognizant of their duties, so intelligent about the alternatives, and so thoughtful regarding the principles that give life to the country, that indeed, as Madison said, liberty and learning would continue their high task of giving faithful support each to the other (174)
